Electro-medical apparatus



(No Model.) I

J. S. MUIR.

ELEOTRO MEDICAL APPARATUS. No. 374,747". Patented Dec. 13, 1887.

N. PETERS, PbokvLilhognphor. Waillingtun. 01;

' arrangement of battery and coils that my imshape, and at the opposite end, or at some T UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

JOHN S. MUIE, OF HANFORD, CALIFORNIA.

ELECTRO-MEDICAL APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,7 dated December 13, 1887.

Application filed July 1, 1887. Serial No. 243,188. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN S. MUIR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hanford, in the county of Tulare and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Eleetro-Medical Apparatus; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference being bad to the drawings that accompany and form part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in instruments or apparatus for producing and applying electricity to different parts of the body for therapeutic purposes. The essential parts of such apparatus comprise a battery or generator, primary and secondary coils, a circuit-breaker, and electrodes for applying the current to the body; and it is to a novel con struction and combination of electrode and circuit-breaker and a novel construction and provements in these apparatus more particularlypertain.

The following description fully explains the nature of the said improvements and the manner in which I construct and apply the same in the production of a portable instrument for the desired purpose. i The said drawings, referred to by figures and letters, represent in Figure 1, a view of the instrument ready for use. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section. Fig. 3 is a view of the frame without the coils and the surrounding case. Fig. 4 is an end view. In this improved instrument the battery and generating-coils are mounted and arranged in a case or holder formed like a tool-handle and of a size to be conveniently grasped and held in the hand. On one end of this handle I fix a bracket or forked holder to receive and form a frame for a revolving electrode of cylindrical other suitable point in the handle, I provide for attachinga second electrode. The surface of the handle is also made to constitute the second electrode, so that the instrument can be readily used for personal application by the patient alone.

The cylindrical electrode is mounted on loose pivotal bearings in the frame, to be revolved by contact with the part of the body over which it may be rolled. It is connected electrically with both the primary and secondary coils, and is constructed to act as a circuit-breaker, 'aswell as an electrode. In connection with these parts I provide means for regulating the intensity of the induced current at will.

The metal rod A forms the core of the electro-magnet and the center of the handle. It is screw-threaded at the ends to receive the insulating-blocks a b. The block a,surrouuding one end portion of the rod, insulates the frame or bracket-piece B from the rod, while the piece I) at the opposite end serves a similar purpose for the metallic button a.

O is the primary coil,and D D are the layers of the secondary coil.

In laying the primary coil one end of the wire is united electrically to the core, and the terminal O is carried through the insulatingblock a and connected to the metal frame B, as seen at 0*, Fig. 2. The terminals of the secondary coil are connected to the frame B and to the conductor E on the handle, respectively. This part E is a metal band set in the surface of the tubular case G,that incloses the coils, and it is made of suitable metal to form an electrode or couductingsurface.

The frame has a rectangular opening, B Fig. 2, and terminates in two arms, B B, in which a cylinder, H, is pivoted. The manner of setting this electrode is shown in Figs. 1 and 3, and on the pivots h h as centers the cylinder revolves freely when pressed against and moved over a surface. This cylinder is part of or an element in both circuits through the connections made of both coils with the frame B, and by its construction the cylinder is made to act both as a circuit-interrupter and as an electrode. To such end a groove or depressed portion, I, is formed in the cylinder and preferably around the middle with alteruate contact-points ii and interrupting portions or surfaces of suitable insulating substance, against which the end of a springtongue, K, on the frame is set to bear. This spring is the prime conductor from one pole of the battery. It is fastened by the screw K to the cross-plate B of the frame, and this fastening, being insulated by the block m from the frame B, extends through the plate B", and is connected electrically to the pole of the battery. The opposite pole of the battery is connected to the end of the core A, which, as before mentioned, is insulated from the frame by the block a. The battery M can be of any suitable kind; but I prefer to use bisulphate of mercury with carbon and zinc elements. 7

In the construction given in the drawings the cell is a small cylinder fitted with heads M M from which conductors are carried to the outside. An orifice, M, in one side, is provided for charging the cell. This opening is covered by an elastic band, P, which, in addition to this oflice of closing the opening, serves to hold the battery in place within the frame. This forms both a simple and convenient means of holding the battery in place, and also allows the gases generated in the cell to escape through the orifice when the pressure within becomes sufficient to throw up the band from the opening. An ordinary rubber band is suitable for this purpose. As thus constructed and put together, it will be seen that the primary circuit is from one pole of the battery through the core and primary coil A of the magnet to the rolling electrode H, and through the contact-points ii on the cylinder and the spring K to the other pole of the battery, while the circuit of the secondary coils is completed by the rolling electrode to which one terminal of the circuit is connected, and by the other electrode, E, when the handle is held in the hand of the patient and the rolling electrode is applied to any part of the body. The current is thus directed to any part by pressing and moving the cylinder over it back and forth.

To use the instrument upon another person, the electrode on the handle is covered either by slipping over it a cylinder of rubber or some other suitable non-conducting substance, so that the hand of the operator is electrically isolated, and the end of a conductor, S, having an electrode, T, attached to the other end, is put in the circuit. This electrode is then held by the patient, while the operator, taking the instrument in his hand, applies the rolling electrode to the portion of the patients body to be treated. In this mode of using the instrument the operator may cover the electrode on the handle by using a wrapping of silk instead of the tubular covering before mentioned.

The electrode T can be readily attached and removed as required. In the construction which I show in Fig. 2 the fastening is composed of a screw-threaded plug, 8*, on the end of the conducting-wire, and a screw-threaded socket in the head of the metallic button a in the end of the handle. The button is insulated from the core of the coil, but is connected electrically by a strip of copper, V, with the terminal of the secondary coils. Thus when the electrode on the surface of the handle is covered the electrode T, being attached to the end of the handle, constitutes the active electrode. Provision is made for cutting out or shunting different portions of the secondary coil to vary the intensity of the current. The mode which I have employed for this purpose consists in laying two or more coils, then bringing out the wire to the surface of the block a for a contact-point, w, and then laying successive coils and forming contactpoints to w, &c., in the same manner.

By means of a switch, Y, any one of these points is thrown into connection with the electrode G or T, according to the adjustment of the instrument, as before described, and a greater or less amount of secondary coil is brought into the circuit.

The smallest amount of the coil and the weakest action of the battery will consequently be obtained by setting the switch to the first point w, while each point will give successive increase of battery as the switch is set forward. This switch and connections are seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The points 10 w", 820., project from the face of the block a, and the spring is secured by the pivot-screw 31*. A strip of copper, 3 set in the case or handle forms a connection between the switch and the electrode G.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The herein-described instrument or apparatus for applying electricity to the body, consisting of the primary and secondary coils within or forming a handle, a battery, M, also supported by the handle, a rolling electrode, H, an interrupter, I, and an electrode, as Eor T, combined for operation as set forth.

2. The combination of primary and second ary coils, electrode, and battery, said parts being supported upon or in the handle of instrument, a rolling electrode having an interrupter, and a contact-spring, substantially as hereinbefore described.

3. In combination with the handle containing primary and secondary coils and a battery, the electrode E, and a rolling electrodein both circuits having an interrupter which is adapted to make and break the primary cireuitby the rotation of the electrode, substantially as hereinbefore described.

4. In an instrument of the character described, the primary and secondary coils C D D, electrode E, battery M, carried by the handles of the instrument, rolling electrode H, and mechanical interrupter adapted to make and break cireuit,in combination, as set forth.

5. In an instrument of the character described, the primary and secondary coils C D D, the electrode E, battery M, rolling electrode H, mechanical interrupter adapted to make and break circuit, and means, substantially as hereinbefore described, by which the intensity of the secondary current is increased or reduced, in combination, as set forth.

6. The combination of the handle containing primary and secondary coils, the electrode E, a battery, M, said parts being all supported in or upon the handle of the device, the constantially as hereinbefore described, for opera- 1o tactspring, and the rolling electrode H, havtion as set forth. ing theinterrupter I, for operation as setforth. In testimony that I claim the foregoing I 7. In an instrument of the character dehave hereunto set my hand and seal. scribed, the handle'having primary and secondary coils located within it, andthebracket JOHN MUIR' or support B, in combination with a battery Witnesses:

mounted thereon, and a rolling electrode for CHAS. E. KELLY,

one terminal, and an electrode, asE or T, sub- JOsEPH E. FORD. 

